Deadpan and Frivolous

Chapter 19

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KYLIE POV

"What the hell, Luke! Is this some kind of joke?" I growl.

"No! We're here because I need you to meet someone!"  He says.

Cue my grimace. "Well, can you not introduce me and say you did? Take me home!"

"Give me ten minutes." Luke pleads. 

I take a deep breath, calming my sudden spike in rage. "Alright," I agree. "Ten minutes."

We get out of the car and start to walk towards the building. Luke tries to grab my hand, but I pull it away. I'm not in the best of moods right now. My mind is spinning with questions, and I don't exactly want to be here. At all.

We walk in and Luke walks up to the reception desk, me trailing sulkily behind. 

"Hello, welcome to Ridgewood Rehabilitation Center. How may I help you?  " The receptionist asks as she types away. The receptionist is a lady in her sixties with black hair, grey taking over. 

"Hello, Mindy," Luke says.

The receptionist looks up and smiles. "Oh, Luke dear, how are you! I'm sorry, I'm just so busy I didn't realize it was you."

"I'm good," Luke smiles back. "How is he today?"

How is who? I'm so confused it's frustrating!

"He's doing fairly well. And who is this lovely young lady?" Mindy turns her attention to me.

I smile at Mindy. "I'm Kylie."

"Are you here to see him too? I have to warn you, he is a bit shy and he doesn't usually talk to anyone except for Luke." Mind says.

I was about to ask what she is talking about, but Luke spoke first. "Yeah, I'm taking her with me to see him." 

Mindy nods and hands us each a visitor's pass. Luke takes my hand, and this time I don't pull away. Luke's so nervous, you think he was on his way to his own execution. 

He leads me down hall after hall until we reach a room, stopping outside the door. Luke takes a deep breath and looks at me. "What you're about to see...just... just try and remember that he is a good person. He really is, this...this isn't him. And if he doesn't talk to you, don't take it personally. He's shy. His timidness is a result of alcohol and drugs. It altered his brain chemistry. He's a good person that just fell into the wrong crowd, and that's why he started drinking, but the drugs didn't start until after...an incident." Luke goes to open the door but stops. "And one more thing, he has the mindset of a kid. It's another result of drugs and alcohol. The incident I told you about gave him PTSD. So, that doesn't help."

I want to ask what 'the incident' is, but I can tell this isn't the time, so I just nod and Luke opens the door. We walk in, and I see a man in a room staring out the window, bobbing his leg up and down.

Luke clears his throat and the man turns his gaze toward us. "Jack," Luke says in a soothing voice. "This is my girlfriend, Kylie. Kylie, this is my brother, Jack."

My eyes widen in shock. This looks nothing like the Jack I saw in the picture on the mantle at Luke's house. The Jack in the picture looks like Luke, mischievous, and a troublemaker. Someone girls swoon over. But this Jack looks worn down, aged beyond his years, and paranoid. 

Jack looks me up and down as if he is assessing me, and finally nods at Luke. Luke gestures towards the couch and we both sit.

"So, Jack, how is everything going?" Luke asks.

Jack looks at me and seems to have an internal fight with himself on whether he should answer Luke in my presence or not.

I smile at him encouragingly. "You can talk. I don't bite."

Jack smiles shyly. "Everything is fine."

"That's good," Luke says. 

---------------------------------

An hour later, Luke and I are getting ready to leave. Of course, you can tell that Jack doesn't want his brother to leave.

"Bye, Jack." Luke hugs him. "I'll see you next week, okay?"  Jack nods and motions for Luke to come closer. Luke does and Jack whispers something in his ear. "Uh, Kylie, Jack wants to talk to me for a minute. If it's not too much to ask, could you, uh..." Luke trails off. 

I nod and smile. "Bye, Jack. It was nice meeting you." I walk out of the room and wait in the hallway for Luke.

After a minute, Luke walks out into the hall with a grin. "He wants me to bring you back sometime."

I grin." Of course." 

Luke is about to close the door, but Jack stops him and steps out in the hall with us. "Is everything okay, Jack?" Luke asks.

Jack nods. "I want to say bye." He says as he looks at the ground as if it's the most interesting thing he has ever seen.

Luke gives him a confused look. "You already did."

Jack shakes his head. Jack then turns to me and smiles timidly. "Bye, Kylie." 

Jack walks back to his room, leaving Luke and I  in the hallway. Luke's mouth is gaping open. "Holy shit."

"What?" I ask.

"Jack talked to you! I mean- He rarely asks for people to come back. In fact, the only other person he ever asked to come back was Andrew. That's because Andrew's an idiot and made him laugh...but he has never talked to anyone other than me. Jack only speaks to the doctors when he's forced to. He didn't even talk to Andrew. He only listened to Andrew ramble about stupid shit." Luke speaks.

I smile. "That's good," I say. "Now, I get to rub it in Drew's face,"  I smirk and saunter down the hallway.

I hear Luke catch up with me as he laughs. Luke takes my hand and squeezes it. "We good now?" He asks with a sincere expression. 

That's when it dawns on me. I'm a complete asshole. Jack being in a rehabilitation center is extremely personal, and I forced it out of him. I got mad at him because he wasn't ready to tell me about his brother's serious condition.

"Luke, I am so sorry," I say. "I'm an asshole. I shouldn't have said what I said. This was extremely personal, and I forced it out of you. I'm such a bad girlfriend. I'm so sorry."

Luke pulls me into a hug and he buries his head in the crook of my neck, holding me tighter. "It's okay. I'm not mad at you."

I hold him tighter. "Okay." 

We let go and we head back to the main lobby. Luke bids Mindy a good-bye and we leave. 

We get in the car and I notice how tired Luke is. He sighs and stares out of the windshield.  "I have to get him out of there. Jack's been in there six and a half years. It's not good for him, but my parents find it easier to keep him in there than to fight to get him out. They're afraid that he is going to get back into old habits."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Luke. I know this is hard for you."

"It's even harder on him. I know that at least eighty percent of what's wrong with him is because of all the stupid shit he did, but him being in there has taken a toll on him, too. It's like he's losing hope of ever leaving. He feels like he's in prison, which I guess technically, he is." Luke rubs his temple.

"If Jack's been in there so long, isn't he clean? Why does he have to stay?" I question.

"His sentence was a minimum of eight years of rehab. After that's up, he might have to do jail time if the judge doesn't think that he has learned his lesson." Luke answers gravely.

"Judge? What did he do?" I ask.

"He drove while drunk," Luke answers solemnly.

"How many times did he do it?" I inquire.

"Once."

Drove while drunk? A minimum of eight years, just for driving drunk once? Why do I feel like I'm missing something?

Why do I feel like my life is about to fall apart?